Inside-Out Makeover

One of the moments that brings an enormous change to my client’s perception of themselves is when we talk about dressing for how you want to feel. I get the look, didn’t realize she was superficial, though it never throws me off course. This is at the heart of connecting back to ourselves after becoming mothers. The outside reflecting the inside.

I have a colleague, Jill Marinelli, who started her personal styling business as I was starting my Health Coaching Practice. To the outsider it may seem as though our jobs are quite opposite, one focusing on the outside while the other places focus on the inside, and yet our work is in alignment. Jill’s mission as a stylist is to make every woman feel and look great with ease and low maintenance. She teaches them about their body and how to focus on the parts they love, and she gives them that boost of confidence we all deserve.

Stephanie and I had been working together for about 8 months. She was going through challenges and still struggling to love her new body, the one that had birthed two babies, that was a mother, that had grown into a woman. It was time to create another shift inside and create space for the new path her life was going. It was time for an “Inside-Out Makeover” to give her the confidence to own her power, to go on job interviews and to see the sexy woman inside.

Jill and I first sent Stephanie to make-up artist Kirsten Brusse to learn how to apply make-up in a simple, yet beautiful way. Stephanie arrived at the mall already glowing from Kirsten’s magic. Jill had pulled clothes into the dressing room and that is where the work began. One thing you may not realize is that it can take trying on 10 pairs or so (or so) of jeans to find one pair that works. Jill helped Stephanie understand that the jeans she was wearing highlighted the parts of her body that she was uncomfortable with.

Jill and I have both been client’s of one another. I have taught Jill about food, finding her balance, and acceptance, and she has brought me shopping, sorted through my closet and helped me align my image with how I want to present it to the world. One thing I love about watching her work is how she shows women how to focus on what is working, not what isn’t. Just as I do for women’s insides.

There were jeans, jackets and jewelry everywhere and the process was intense. At one point Stephanie and I had a moment together talking about when she first started to hate her body. As more clothes were tried on and discarded the frustration built, and the emotions came to the surface. In my work and in Jill’s, it takes one small victory to start seeing the possibilities. The moment you can find gratitude for something that has challenged you is just like the moment when you put on a shirt that brings your face to life – it no longer makes you obsess about your belly.

It would not be going out on a limb to say that Jill thinks about shoes the way I think about dark greens. On this day, the greens and the shoes were part of the same make-over, one no less special than the other.

All the talk of greens, self acceptance and small actions created big shifts in Stephanie’s life. On this day with Jill, the perfect pair of jeans and a gorgeous top that made her face glow gave her the confidence to move into a new chapter in her life. That is why we dress for how we want to feel today – joyful and gorgeous!